CHICAGO -- The Chicago City Council has approved a $150 million general airport revenue bond issue to finance improvements at O'Hare International Airport.
The bonds are expected to be issued by the end of August, according to John Holden, a spokesman for the city's finance department. The council approved the issue Wednesday.
The senior underwriters for the negotiated deal are Lazard Freres & Co. and Dean Witter Reynolds. Co-managers are Prudential Securities Inc., Artemis Capital Group Inc., Smith Mitchell & Associates Inc., and Guzman & Co.
Bond counsel for the deal are Coffield Ungaretti & Harris and lawyer George Munoz.
Co-bond counsel are Burke Warren and MacKay and John Stroger and Associates.
The bond proceeds will finance rehabilitation of existing O'Hare facilities including runways, taxiways, emergency power systems, and expanded fuel capacity for its international terminal, which is under construction, said Ellen McCormack, a council finance committee attorney.
Meanwhile, the city council did not take action Wednesday on a $160 million general obligation bond issue proposed by Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley last month. Mr. Holden said the council will consider that bond issue at its July meeting.
Proceeds from that issue would finance city infrastructure repairs and industrial parks, marking the city's first bond program for infrastructure since 1987.
About $3.5 million of the bond proceeds would be used for tunnel and structural improvements related to the April 13 underground flood.
In May, Standard & Poor's Corp. affirmed an A-minus rating and a stable outlook for $173 million of Chicago's unenhanced GO debt after the underground flooding. In April, Moody's Investors Service confirmed an A rating for $995 million of its GO debt.
